Players
Dracula, Lestat, the Lost Boys, Angel, Eric Northman, Bill Compton, Edward Cullen. Since the publication of Polidori’s The Vampyre, mass media has created their own images of the undead. Many Kindred find these glamorized, romantic reflections of themselves insulting. Few books and fewer movies or TV shows capture the ugliness running through the Danse Macabre. A few Kindred, however, love these images and wished they were the vampires seen in the movies: beautiful and powerful, stylish and deadly — and untroubled by a ravening Beast. For some Kindred, this wish goes all the way back to their mortal days when “sexy movie vampire” still meant Bela Lugosi. Thus began the Players, one of the most mocked and scorned bloodline in the World of Darkness. Background: The players are a new clan, only a few decades old. They came to be with the advent of cinema and mass media, and their numbers increased as humans continued to romance their image. As such few Players are typically older than a century. The Becoming: Almost all Players are young and moderately attractive. Many began as entranced groupies of their sires. Sometimes a Player can’t accept that a mortal admirer has escaped her power, and Embraces them to keep the illusion going a little longer. Bloodline Bane: ' The allure of a Player fades as quickly as media trends change. Many assume this a side-effect of their use of Obfuscate, that the emotions of their Thralls fade from memory just as they can vanish from a person's mind. Love with a player is always one way, and as soon as they start to reciprocate it to their admirer's, the passion seems to die as the mortal realizes how fake their idol now is. Mechanically, a Player may not add their Discipline Dots to any dice-pool against any mortal the Wanabee has gained the Dependent Condition to (typically from feeding on them multiple times). Normally this only applies to''Majesty, but can also affect''Auspex'',''Dominate''and''Nightmare''if the Player has learned these disciplines. It does not affect Obfuscate however, and many Players do resort to feeding on scorned victims in crowded areas - one last kiss goodbye... '''Disciplines and Devotions: In the Covenants Most Players are unaligned. they are too new to enjoy the benefits of undead nepotism. The lineage began among Mekhet with little knowledge of Kindred society, and many Players still get more ideas about vampirism from movies than from other undead. The Carthian Movement The most popular home for the Posers is within the Carthian Movement, due to the covenant’s strong ties to the mortal world and contemporary culture. Indeed the fact other bloodlines are often annoyed by the Wannabee's appeals to the anarchistic ideals of the Carthians. The Circle of the Crone The Blood pagans are quite serious about their worship and so can be reluctant to allow these fickle vamp's to join. However they do have a place in the Mother's Army. Since players inevitably loose their ability to manipulate mortals when they start to return their affections, the choice is to let them go and find someone else or bring them to the coven and drain their blood for sacrifice. Sadly for most mortals, Players rarely choose the former of the two options for they do not enjoy being reminded and embarrassed about their weakness. The Invictus The pomp and grandeur of the Invictus appeals to the Players’ sense of drama: beyond a doubt, the Invictus seem like the glitterati among the Kindred. In turn the first estate does consider their applications, since the Players do move well with the trends and can help keep the Invictus image up to date. Furthermore their resources do help cover up their scorned mistakes, though The Lancea et Sanctum Some would consider the Sanctified a poor fit for the Posers, yet the reality is quite the opposite. The Posers seek to be considered gods of the night and so fit well into the image of predators-with-purpose. They preach to religious rebels that even the devil has a role to play in gods work. They work in the gothic, emo, and satanist communities where their dark romantic ideals are heard and consumed eagerly. The Ordo Dracul Players aspire to be gods of the night, and the Coils are a clear path to achieve this. However the sincerity required to join does restrict their membership as they simply do not want to be treated like a hipster trend of fashion. That being said, some Players have managed to proove themselves worthy and do indeed start developing their paths with eager vision. Even then their fellow alchemists always feel they treat their work as a joke. No matter how sincere a Player may be, their agenda will inevitably be under suspicion.